Young councillors from four munis launch new podcast series on affordable housing, transportation, and equity

Around two years ago, inspired by SFU City Conversations, four councillors from municipalities throughout the region had an idea to bring important city-building conversations, now called Metro Conversations, out from the confines of the City of Vancouver, to the rest of the region.

It is important that these conversations about affordable housing, transportation, and equity are not just focused on one municipality, but the region as a whole. That is why we decided to bring these conversations, in partnership with SFU Public Square, to other centres throughout Metro Vancouver. Mathew Bond of the District of North Vancouver, Kiersten Duncan of Maple Ridge, and Patrick Johnstone of New Westminster, and myself hosted these conversations connecting citizens and topic experts.

“We realized that not everyone could make these conversations,” said Councillor Patrick Johnstone. “This is why we are excited to be launching our podcast series, enable access for more people to engage in the conversation.”

Metro Conversations around single-family housing, short-time rentals, affordable housing, gender in politics, and transportation were held in Lynn Valley, Downtown PoCo, New West, and Langley City, engaging with around 150 citizens of our region over the past year.

Funded by a SFU Community Engagement Initiative grant, Metro Conversations follows the model of SFU City Conversations, an SFU Public Square program, with short presentations from experts followed by moderated dialogue among participants.

“Connecting with community is part of everything we at Canada’s engaged university,” says SFU Public Square executive director Janet Webber. “We are thrilled to support Metro Conversations and have these important discussions reach and engage citizens throughout Metro Vancouver and are very excited that this new podcast will allow the program to reach an even wider audience.”

The podcast series includes the best of the in-person conversations, and exclusive online-only content.

The podcast series is also available today on:
iTunes: http://itunes.convo.city
Google Play: http://play.convo.city

#LangleyCityConnect Neighbourhood Meetings Coming Up in May

For the past several years, Langley City has hosted a series of neighbourhood meetings annually. Generally when public meetings occur in a community, it is to seek feedback on a specific plan or project. Otherwise, people are expected to reach out to local government if they have other questions or concerns. This can be an intimidating process for many people.

People at Douglas Park neighbourhood meeting in October 2017. Select image to enlarge.

Our Langley City neighbourhood meetings are a way for local government to come to people where they are at, in a casual atmosphere. The mayor and city council will be on hand, as will be representatives from every city department, plus the RCMP, to answer your questions.

There will be members of Langley City’s Crime Prevention Task Group at the meetings looking to sign up people to help out with the upcoming “Know Your Neighbours” campaign.

You can also learn about community projects, what has been accomplished over the last year, and learn about the wide range of programs and services available in our community. If you want, you can also provide feedback on upcoming city-led initiatives.

If you have a question about organics collection, parks, redevelopment, or the budget, or you just want to stop by to meet other people in your neighbourhood, please consider attending an upcoming neighbourhood meeting.

Details:

Date: May 1, 2018
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: Simonds Elementary School Gym - 20190 48 Avenue

Date: May 8, 2018
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: Douglas Park Community School Gym - 5409 206 Street

Date: May 16, 2018
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location: Alice Brown Elementary School Gym - 20011 44 Avenue

April 23, 2018 Council Meeting Notes: Downtown Saturday farmers market starting up, and redevelopment continues

Several groups presented information at Monday night’s Langley City council meeting. There were also several zoning bylaws that continued their progress forward, and some housekeeping bylaws addressed.

The first presentation was from the New Westminster & District Labour Council reminding council about the upcoming Day of Mourning for Workers Kill or Injured. Representatives from the Labour Council noted that the Day of Mourning also serves as a reminder to make our workplaces safer. A safe work environment also needs to support good mental health; bullying and harassment is akin to a workplace injury. Langley City will be raising a flag to acknowledge the Day of Mourning. For more information about this day, please visit the Labour Council’s facebook page.

The Langley Community Farmers Market will be expanding in Langley City. The market currently is open on Wednesday from noon to 4:30pm at the Langley KPU Campus. The market will now also be open on Saturday between 10am and 2pm at the Timms Community Centre parking lot in Downtown Langley. The market only allows people that produce their own goods to be vendors. This will be a great addition to our community, and I look forward to the opening date of June 2nd.

Council also received a presentation by Ginger Sherlock who is the Langley Emergency Planning Coordinator. She reminded council that Emergency Preparedness Week is coming up from May 6th through 12th. There will be events scheduled in both the City and Township. She noted that information about these events will be posted to both municipality’s websites, and on social media with the hashtag #FamilyReady.

There were three land-use matters addressed by council. The first was a public hearing for a re-zoning request to accommodate a 3-storey, 39-unit townhouse project at the end of 199A Street near Brydon Crescent. At the public hearing, one resident asked if sewer services would be interrupted for neighbouring residents during construction. He was told that there would be no interruption in service. Council gave third reading to the bylaw for re-zoning.

Site plan for proposed project at the end of 199A Street. Select image to enlarge.

Council also gave first and second reading for a bylaw to rezoning 20689 and 20699 Eastleigh Crescent to support a 3-storey, 23-unit townhouse project. This will allow for a public hearing to be scheduled.

Rendering of proposed project along Eastleigh Crescent. Select image to enlarge.

Langley City allows secondary suites, but some properties in our community have land-use contracts from the 1970s which prevent them. It is the City’s policy to remove these contracts at the request of owners. Council gave first and second reading to discharge the land-use contract for 5139 206 Street.

Council gave final reading to adopt various housekeeping bylaws for the upcoming fall municipal election.

Council also gave first, second, and third reading to the 2018 tax rate bylaw. The budget was approved earlier this year, and I posted about what the impact will be for sample single-family and multi-family properties at that time. A tax rate is also known as a mill rate, and it must be adjusted annually.

You may have heard that Metro Vancouver Regional District directors voted for a retroactive retirement allowance from 2007. As this didn’t go over well with the general public, the directors are reconsidering this allowance. Langley City council passed a motion asking our Metro Vancouver director to consider voting against this allowance.

Council approves additional funding for Bylaws on Bikes Program

One of the reasons that I moved to Langley City was because of the number of parks, and the extensive trail network. In fact, around 14% of the community is park space. The RCMP has a program in place where members patrol on bicycle throughout the community. Having RCMP members cycling around our community improves their visibility, aiding in crime prevention. Research shows that having police on bikes results in improved access to police services in a community, and increases the likelihood of police encountering an illicit activity in progress during a patrol.

Given the large portion of our community that is only accessible by foot or bicycle, have RCMP members on bikes allows for the patrolling of areas that are not accessible by motor vehicle, improving response times in those areas.

While the RCMP performs summer bike patrols in Langley City, this was not done traditionally by our bylaw department. Last year, a new program was started called the “Integrated Proactive Homelessness Inspection Team.” One of the initiatives of the program was to have bike patrols where both RCMP and bylaw department members where out enforcing both the City’s bylaws and the Criminal Code, with the safety of people who were homeless and other members of the community in mind.

These bike patrols enabled our bylaw department to have improved access throughout our parks and trails network, and other more isolated areas in Langley City. These proactive patrols resulted in a reduction in calls for service for both the RCMP and our bylaw department.

In 2017, our bylaw enforcement staff used bikes made available by the RCMP. This year, those bikes were not available. City council approved investing $4,500 for two bikes plus associated equipment to allow this successful program to continue at last night’s council meeting.

It is innovative programs like this that improve both the perception of safety, and actual safety in our community with minimal cost. A win-win!